Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification
To be accepted into social groups, individuals must internalize and reproduce appropriate group conventions, such as rituals. The copying of such rigid and socially stipulated behavioral sequences places heavy demands on executive function. Given previous research showing that challenging executive...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
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Wiley
2017
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| _version_ | 1797050726272204800 |
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| author | Rybanska, V McKay, R Jong, J Whitehouse, H |
| author_facet | Rybanska, V McKay, R Jong, J Whitehouse, H |
| author_sort | Rybanska, V |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | To be accepted into social groups, individuals must internalize and reproduce appropriate group conventions, such as rituals. The copying of such rigid and socially stipulated behavioral sequences places heavy demands on executive function. Given previous research showing that challenging executive functioning improves it, it was hypothesized that engagement in ritualistic behaviors improves children's executive functioning, in turn improving their ability to delay gratification. A 3-month circle time games intervention with 210 schoolchildren (Mage = 7.78 years, SD = 1.47) in two contrasting cultural environments (Slovakia and Vanuatu) was conducted. The intervention improved children's executive function and in turn their ability to delay gratification. Moreover, these effects were amplified when the intervention task was imbued with ritual, rather than instrumental, cues. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:09:27Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:0280e9ec-7c56-40a6-a546-31eebaac2f29 |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-06T18:09:27Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:0280e9ec-7c56-40a6-a546-31eebaac2f292022-03-26T08:41:07ZRituals improve children's ability to delay gratificationJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:0280e9ec-7c56-40a6-a546-31eebaac2f29Symplectic Elements at OxfordWiley2017Rybanska, VMcKay, RJong, JWhitehouse, HTo be accepted into social groups, individuals must internalize and reproduce appropriate group conventions, such as rituals. The copying of such rigid and socially stipulated behavioral sequences places heavy demands on executive function. Given previous research showing that challenging executive functioning improves it, it was hypothesized that engagement in ritualistic behaviors improves children's executive functioning, in turn improving their ability to delay gratification. A 3-month circle time games intervention with 210 schoolchildren (Mage = 7.78 years, SD = 1.47) in two contrasting cultural environments (Slovakia and Vanuatu) was conducted. The intervention improved children's executive function and in turn their ability to delay gratification. Moreover, these effects were amplified when the intervention task was imbued with ritual, rather than instrumental, cues. |
| spellingShingle | Rybanska, V McKay, R Jong, J Whitehouse, H Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification |
| title | Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification |
| title_full | Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification |
| title_fullStr | Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification |
| title_full_unstemmed | Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification |
| title_short | Rituals improve children's ability to delay gratification |
| title_sort | rituals improve children s ability to delay gratification |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rybanskav ritualsimprovechildrensabilitytodelaygratification AT mckayr ritualsimprovechildrensabilitytodelaygratification AT jongj ritualsimprovechildrensabilitytodelaygratification AT whitehouseh ritualsimprovechildrensabilitytodelaygratification |